Sweet Darkness by David Whyte

When your eyes are tired

the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone

no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark

where the night has eyes

to recognize its own.

There you can be sure

you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your womb tonight.

The night will give you a horizon

further than you can see,

you must learn one thing,

The world was made to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds

except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it take darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn

anything or anyone that does not bring you alive

is too small fo you.

September 22, 2020 The first day of Fall, the Autumn Equinox

Mono no aware is a Japanese concept describing transience and the feelings that arise with it. Transient like the season of autumn, changing with the expanding summer energy contracting toward the depths of winter. It is the awareness of the impermanence, the bittersweet remembrances of saying goodbye. Fall is transition. We prepare for the winter by releasing what we no longer need or what no longer serves us.

In practicing Yoga we bring awareness to our bodies, moving mindfully with care and focus. We open our joints, we expand our ribs and breathe, we move forth with more prana, more life force, more grounded. We build a more resilient stillness and support our ability to be totally aware and present in the moment. Accepting of life as it is presented and not daunted by the illusion of the future or the sadness of the past.